River alert after pet tragedy

A distraught dog walker has warned other pet owners to be careful near the River Bollin after her labrador drowned. The woman and her husband were walking their two black labradors near the river in Styal Woods when the accident happened.

A distraught dog walker has warned other pet owners to be careful near the River Bollin after her labrador drowned.

The woman and her husband were walking their two black labradors near the river in Styal Woods when the accident happened.

They had not allowed the dogs to swim at their usual spot on the river because the water was high and fast-flowing. But later during the walk one nine-year-old dog found a tennis ball, tossed it into the river and jumped in to chase it.

She was swept under the Oxbow Bridge and became trapped in a fallen tree under the water.

Her desperate owners waded in to try to free her but had to give up because the current was too strong.

Two dog walkers helped the couple up the bank and called National Trust warden Simon Hiley who freed the pet, but she was already dead.

The couple are from Cheadle Hulme but do not want to be named. The woman owner said: “The dogs were not supposed to go in the water because the river was too high but she was a free spirit and lived for the water.

“She loved to play the game with the ball and just disappeared.

“I shouted after her but she was swept away and we didn’t see her again.

“We tried to save her but the current was too strong. We went back to the car and that’s when I found out from the warden that she had died. It was very upsetting.

“I want to warn other dog owners to keep their dogs away from the water.”

Steve Clegg, of Hawthorn Park, was one of the dog walkers at the scene.

He said: “The river was a torrent and it was harrowing.”

Simon Hiley, the estate manager, said: “As a dog owner I asked myself as I walked to the river if I would go in to retrieve my dog. Probably at the time instinct takes over. I found the body submerged and stuck fast on a branch of the tree.

“This was a freak accident and I make a plea for people to stay out of the river.”